Author's Note: A quick one-shot I did of S/S AU Qrow dealing with Summer's death. Best if paired with Blackmore Night's "Olde Village Lantern" and "Ghost of a Rose".

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"Hey, Summer?"

"Yeah, Qrow?"

"Have you ever been in love?"

"Can you keep a secret?"
"Of course!"

"I...I love Taiyang."

"...I see."

Like the petals of a rose on the wind, I wished away my happiness. I decided my purpose that day and every day since I have not wavered.

"Taiyang," the words burst from my lips harsher than I meant. The snow blanketed White Mountains converged into their highest peak, Blackmore. And on this morning, the mountain had truly earned it's name. Thousands of Grimm corpses lay smoking and burning, their number so great that what took a single beowolf seconds to do was taking these hours. "Tai," I called again. He did not look at me. Nothing, I feared, would rench him from his grief, nor his place at her side. Slowly, I started walking towards him. Something crunched under my feet and I paused. One of her rapiers, Thorn, lay broken into several shards.

I continued forward. Tai's sobs echoed around the mountain, the peak unusually calm, as if the weather's itself knew to show respect. I steeled myself for the sight and stepped around sight that greeted me hit me like a punch in the gut. I fell to my knees. Her face was free of any sign of battle. Her eyes were closed, peaceful, at rest. She was smiling. Beneath that perfect face was pure destruction. Gaping slash wounds, claw marks, bites, holes where she'd been gored by a boarbatusk. She was missing her right arm entirely. Blood was still spreading from her body.

I knew what she'd say too. In fact, I saw it nearly perfectly in my mind's eye. A ghostly figure standing over her own body. "That does not look good," she would say.

"Why?" I would ask.

"Because it was necessary," would be her answer.

"This," I would gesture, choking back tears, "this is necessary? What about Yang?" I would swallow the lump in my throat and whisper, "What about Ruby?"

She wouldn't have an answer for that. Her mouth would open and close a few times before her big silver eyes would well up with tears. "I can see it, Qrow." Her eyes would stare into the distance. "That old village lantern…" she'd whisper. "The light in the dark, hope for the future. Those girls will save the world…"

"What about me?" I'd finally ask. "I love you."

She'd smile at that, like a teacher who smiles at her infatuated student. "Oh, Qrow.." she'd begin but I'd interrupt.

"How am I supposed to go on? How can I continue when the only source of strength I had was your happiness? It's not fair!" She'd run a hand through my grey hair and look into my bloodshot blood-red eyes.

"Qrow…" She'd pause for a moment, searching for the words. They would never come, so instead, she'd softly sing to me, as she always did. "When you think of me/Do so with pride/Honor and bravery/Ruled by my side/And in your memory/I will remain/I will forever be within the flame/Now at the journey's end/We've traveled far/And all we have to show/Are battle scars/But in the love we shared/We will transcend/And in that love, our journey never ends."

She'd hold me for as long as I needed. Hours, maybe. In that time, I would feel my heart rip itself from my chest and tear itself to pieces. I'd feel the hollow emptiness of her absence. I'd feel the absence of her last embrace. And it would hit me once more and I'd start crying once more. She'd never say a word, just hold me and comfort me.

And when I'd become numb, when I'd calmed down, she would say simply my name. "Qrow." I'd pull myself from her embrace. "It's time."

She'd kiss my hair. She'd smell of flowers and cookies.

I opened my eyes. Taiyang still knelt by her body. She was gone-the love of my life.

Goodbye...my love…

"Hey, Summer." The gravestone was still immaculate, probably thanks to Taiyang. "It's been a few years, I know." They'd elected not to bury her on the summit of the mountain but instead toward its base, where the trees and animals roamed free. She would've preferred it that way. Birds chirped and life continued.

"I'm no good at this, Summer," I said, idly digging my boot into the dirt. "I miss you."

"I've missed you too," she'd say, smiling-always smiling. That girl never cried, it seemed.

"Why would I cry?" she'd ask. "I have so much to be thankful for. I've been on the best team ever, with the best team leader. I've loved and lived and I've raised two beautiful girls." She would pause and look at the setting sun. "Sure, I didn't have as long as I would've liked. I hurt someone I cared deeply about. There are mistakes and actions that I wish I could take back, but isn't that the beauty of life? You get one chance to make the most of it."

She turned back to the valley that her marker overlooked. "It's so serene out here. I love it. If ever I could've built a home away from Patch, I'd want to do it here."

"We could've built it right next to that stream there, see?" I'd point to a perfect clearing.

"With one of those cute little water wheels?" she asked, her eyes alight with glee.

"As you wish," I'd reply.

"Yay!" She'd clap her hands and then hug her cloak around her, squirming at just the mere thought of it. "Ruby would've loved this too," she mused. Without thinking, I would reach out and take her hand. She'd gasp and blush but she'd gently squeeze and lean into me. "Qrow?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you promise me something?"

I looked up from the stone. "I promise, Summer."

"Promise me, when you see, a white rose you'll think of me

I love you so/Never let go/I will be your ghost of a rose..."